' 


Agriculture 

The  Master  Science. 


ADDRESS  BY 


L.  H.  KERRICK, 


DELIVERED  AT  THE  DEDICATION  OF  THE  NEW 
AGRICULTURAL  BUILDING  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS. 


Champaign,  Illinois,  May  21,  1901. 


BLOOMINGTON,  ILLINOIS, 
THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS. 


Agriculture  the  Master  Science. 


IF  I should  say  that  agriculture  is  the  first — the 
greatest — the  most  honorable  business  of  the 
world,  I would  only  be  saying-  ag-ain  what  the  best 
and  wisest  men  of  every  ag-e  have  said  before. 
But  a great  number  of  people  do  not  so  reg-ard  agri- 
culture; they  are  prone  to  look  upon  it  as  a useful, 
' possibly  as  a necessary  business,  albeit  a very  sim- 
r';  pie  one,  suited  to  the  ability  and  uncultivated  tastes 
c^of  plain  people.  Almost  any  other  vocation  they 
i esteem  more  honorable,  and  preferable  to  tilling-  the 
^ "ground  and  tending-  the  herd.  This  mistaken  atti- 
"b  tude  toward  agriculture  is  not  universal,  but  it  has 
' been  and  is  still  far  too  general.  In  the  common 
7;  mind  agriculture  is  the  inferior — other  callings  the 
£ superior.  The  largest  case  in  all  history  of  “cart 
p before  the  horse”  is  that  one  wherein  so  great  a part 
of  mankind  have  so  persistently  put  agriculture  to 
the  rear — in  the  less  honorable  place,  while  other 
vocations  are  put  to  the  front  in  the  position  of 
honor. 

In  the  whole  hook-up  of  our  civilization  this 
“wrong  end  to”  position  of  things  is  strongly  in 
evidence.  This  common  underestimation  of  agri- 

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10173 


culture,  and  the  common  aversion  or  distaste  for 
agricultural  pursuits,  and  the  general  trend  of  peo- 
ple and  institutions  away  from  the  farm  have  long 
been  noted  and  deplored  by  observing  and  right 
thinking  men. 

They  have  profoundly  affected  all  social,  polit- 
ical and  economic  relations  and  conditions.  They 
have  upset  the  proper  balance  of  city  and  rural  pop- 
ulation. There  are  too  few  people  on  the  farms, 
too  many  in  the  cities.  There  are  not  enough  peo- 
ple on  the  farm  to  do  the  work  well,  while  in  the 
cit}T  there  are  two  or  three  times  as  many  as  are 
needed  to  do  the  work  there.  There  is  boundless 
room  and  unlimited  living  employment  in  the  coun- 
try, while  there  is  crowding  and  poverty  and  strife 
and  strikes  in  the  city,  for  lack  of  living  employ- 
ment. 

A few  years  ago  there  was  a great  strike  on  in 
Chicago.  I do  not  remember  what  precipitated  it — 
no  matter,  at  bottom  the  cause  of  all  strikes  is  too 
many  people  needing  the  same  job.  During  this 
particular  strike  the  storm  for  a while  centered 
about  some  grain  elevators.  Thousands  of  men 
threatened  to  pull  down  or  break  in  the  elevators 
and  help  themselves  to  the  wheat.  At  that  time 
those  elevators  were  filled  with  the  cheapest  wheat 
ever  raised  in  the  world;  but  there  were  so  many 
people  in  Chicago  who  had  no  business  there — no 
living  business,  that  they  could  not  earn  enough  to 


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buy  enough  to  eat  of  the  cheapest  bread  the  world 
ever  had. 

This  pulling  away  from  the  farms  could  not  af- 
fect every  other  condition  and  institution  and  leave 
our  greatest  institution,  our  schools,  unaffected. 

And  what  a country  of  schools  is  this!  Who 
can  count  our  schools?  They  are  like  the  stars 
which  no  man  can  number.  But  our  schools,  big, 
little  and  medium,  public  and  private,  have  been 
dominated  in  their  organization  and  in  their  teach- 
ing by  this  same,  anything  but  farming,  spirit. 
They  have  taught  our  farmers’  boys  and  girls  about 
everything  under  the  sun  except  those  very  things 
they  need  and  must  know  to  make  their  work  and 
business  attractive,  satisfying,  successful. 

The  attitude  of  the  schools  toward  agriculture 
has  been  something  like  this.  Anybody  can  farm. 
You  do  not  have  to  learn  how  to  farm.  You  just 
know  it  without  having  to  learn.  There  is  not 
much  to  learn  about  it  anyway.  There  is  no  sci- 
ence, no  art  about  farming.  You  do  not  go  to 
school  to  know  how  to  farm  better;  you  do  not  have 
to.  You  go  to  school  to  learn  how  to  do  something 
else,  so  you  may  not  have  to  farm.  Only  those  peo- 
ple who  cannot  do  something  else  work  at  farming. 
Strange!  All  this  is  passing  strange,  since  if  we 
but  think  for  a moment  we  know  that  had  it  not 
been  for  the  farming  which  went  before  them,  never 
a book  would  have  been  written,  never  a school 
house  built  on  the  earth. 


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Agriculture  is  the  science  of  sciences,  the  art  of 
arts. 

When  every  other  art  and  science  shall  have 
been  thought  and  wrought  out  to  its  utmost  limit, 
the  science  and  practice  of  agriculture  will  still  pre- 
sent boundless  unexplored  fields  for  work  and 
research  and  reward,  wherein  every  faculty  of  mind 
and  body  with  which  man  is  endowed  may  find  the 
fullest,  the  most  satisfying,  the  most  inspiring  ex- 
ercise and  employment. 

Do  not  misunderstand  me.  I say  nothing 
against  our  schools.  They  are  good.  They  do 
their  work  well.  That  such  a system  of  public  and 
private  schools  as  ours  with  its  mighty  teaching 
force  and  its  vast  material  equipment  should  have 
been  evolved  in  so  short  a period  of  time  is  a matter 
to  excite  our  wonder  and  to  compel  our  highest  ad- 
miration. 

For  zeal,  for  self-sacrifice,  for  untiring  labors  in 
behalf  of  our  youth,  that  they  may  become  intelli- 
gent, worthy  men  and  women  and  patriotic  citizens, 
I say  of  our  whole  great  array  of  teachers,  from  the 
presidents  of  our  universities  and  colleges  to  the 
humbler  but  not  less  useful  district  school  teachers, 
there  live  no  better,  nobler,  more  helpful  men  and 
women  than  they. 

But  just  as  earnestly  I say  that  our  schools  and 
our  school  teachers  have  been  nearly  all  looking  one 
way,  and  that  way  has  been  away  from  the  farm. 
Is  it  anybody’s  fault?  No;  it  is  everybody’s  fault. 


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It  is  the  colossal  fault  of  our  time  and  our  genera- 
tion, to  underestimate  the  dignity,  the  beauty,  the 
profit  and  the  honor  of  farming-  and  farm  life. 

This  wrong-  attitude  of  our  schools  toward  agri- 
culture has  of  course  tended  strong-ly  to  draw  young- 
people  from  farm  life  to  professional  life.  The 
schools  have  been  turning-  out  too  many  doctors, 
too  many  lawyers,  too  many  professors.  There  is 
no  need  for  them  all,  but  they  have  been  taken  too 
often  from  the  farm,  where  there  is  need  of  them. 
The  professors  have  rather  the  better  of  it  because 
they  can  g-o  on  helping-  to  turn  out  more  doctors 
and  more  lawyers  and  more  professors. 

To  say  the  so-called  learned  professions  are  full, 
pressed  down  and  running-  over,  is  only  hinting-  at 
their  actual  condition.  Something  over  a year  ag*o 
I read  in  a Chicago  paper  an  account  of  graduating 
exercises  which  took  place  at  the  Chicago  Univer- 
sity. Let  me  quote  you  verbatim  a part  of  Presi- 
dent Harper’s  address  to  the  graduates,  as  it  was 
reported: 

“You  who  are  now  entering  the  world  will  find 
that  poverty  will  be  the  strongest  opponent  to  over- 
come. You  who  are  entering  life  as  lawyers  need 
only  to  look  at  the  papers  to-day  to  find  that  the 
average  lawyer  does  not  earn  his  salt.  Those  who 
will  become  physicians  will  find  that  their  only 
companion  for  a few  years  to  come  will  be  the  wolf 
at  the  door;  while  those  who  go  forth  to  teach  need 
only  to  witness  the  struggles  of  the  school  teachers 


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in  this  city.  The  school  board  is  beset  with  howls 
and  wails  for  an  increase  of  salaries.” 

This  in  that  great  and  rich  and  growing  me- 
tropolis, Chicago,  a city  affording  as  great  or 
greater  and  more  opportunities  for  men  and  women 
trained  for  the  learned  professions  than  any  other 
city;  yet  even  there  the  prospect  held  out  to  those 
graduates  by  the  president  was  years  of  starvation. 
If  some  other  fellows  had  not  the  strength  to  fast 
as  long  as  these  graduates  then  they  might  eventu- 
ally get  the  other  fellows’  places. 

The  first  duty  of  an  educated,  able-bodied  man 
is  to  make  his  own  living.  The  man  who  is  not  in 
some  way,  at  some  point,  doing  an  amount  of  the 
world’s  necessary  work  equal  to  that  required  for  the 
support  of  one  man,  is  a burden  on  society. 

Do  any  of  you  fear  that  President  Draper  or 
Dean  Davenport  will  ever  say  to  a class  graduating 
from  this  agricultural  college:  Gentlemen: — You  are 
going  out  to  the  farms.  You  have  not  mastered  the 
whole  of  agricultural  science,  that  will  not  be  done 
by  any  living  or  yet  to  live,  but  you  have  done  your 
work  well  in  the  college  and  you  are  well  equipped 
for  your  business;  however,  I feel  obliged  to  say  to 
you  that  poverty  will  be  the  strongest  opponent  you 
will  have  to  overcome.  The  average  farmer  is  not 
earning  his  salt — that  is,  for  his  personal  consump- 
tion, mind  you,  let  alone  the  cattle  and  horse  crit- 
ters. The  only  companion  you  will  have  for  some 
years  to  come  will  be  the  wolf  at  the  door.  * * * 


6 


/ 


I just  as  much  expect  to  read  of  such  a speech 
as  that  having  been  made  here  to  a class  graduating 
from  this  agricultural  college  as  I expect  to  find  my- 
self to-morrow  morning  sitting  on  some  distant  star, 
reading  that  last  night  the  cables  of  gravitation 
parted  down  here  and  the  whole  planetary  outfit  fell 
to  everlasting  smashup. 

Thirty-four  years  ago  there  was  organized  here 
an  industrial  university.  Not  a university  of  the 
general  sort  but  of  another  sort,  a new  kind  of  uni- 
versity. A university  differing  in  its  organization — 
differing  in  its  leading  studies  and  in  its  aims  and 
purposes  from  those  already  established  in  many 
parts  of  the  country.  The  courses  of  study  in  the 
colleges  and  universities  existing  when  this  new 
university  was  organized  were  adapted  only  to  fit 
men  for  the  so-called  learned  professions,  law,  med- 
icine, etc.  In  this  new  university  the  leading  stud- 
ies were  to  be  those  related  to  agriculture  and  the 
mechanic  arts.  Whereas  the  other  universities  tend- 
ed to  withdraw  their  students  from  the  pursuits  of 
industry,  this  new  university  would  aim  by  linking 
learning  more  closely  to  labor  and  by  bringing  the 
light  of  science  more  fully  to  the  aid  of  the  produc- 
tive arts,  to  enamor  the  sons  and  the  daughters  of 
the  farmer  and  the  artisan  with  their  pursuits. 
There  is  no  law  in  Illinois  establishing  a university 
of  the  general  or  older  sort.  There  never  has  been 
such  a law.  There  is  a law  establishing  an  indus- 
trial university.  If  this  university  has  any  legal  ex- 


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istence  or  standing*,  it  is  as  an  industrial  university. 
By  the  intention  of  its  founders,  by  its  org*anic  law, 
by  its  lawfully  authorized  courses  of  study,  by  the 
will  of  the  people  of  Illinois,  it  is  an  industrial  uni- 
versity, not  less,  not  more. 

In  his  address,  delivered  on  the  occasion  of  the 
inaug-uration  of  the  Illinois  Industrial  University, 
that  great  man,  Dr.  Newton  Bateman,  said:  “What, 
then,  is  the  grand  distinguishing*  feature,  purpose, 
hope  of  this  university?  In  my  view  it  is  to  form  a 
closer  alliance  between  labor  and  learning*— be- 
tween science  and  the  manual  arts,  between  man 
and  nature,  between  the  human  soul  and  God,  as 
seen  in  and  revealed  through  his  works. 

“It  is  to  endeavor  so  to  wed  the  intellect  and 
hearts  of  the  students  we  educate  to  the  matchless 
attractions  of  rural  and  industrial  life,  that  they 
will  with  their  whole  soul  prefer  and  choose  that 
life  and  consecrate  to  it  the  results  of  skill  and  power 
that  may  here  be  gained.  These  I hold  to  be  the 
aims  of  this  university.  And  we  hope  to  attain 
them,  not  by  a less  extensive  and  thorough  course 
of  instruction  than  is  given  in  other  universities, 
but  by  a somewhat  different  course  and  more  espe- 
cially by  emphasizing  from  the  beginning  to  the  end 
those  studies  and  sciences  which  look  away  from 
literary  and  professional  life  and  towards  the  pur- 
suits of  the  agriculturist  and  the  artisan.” 

Congress  in  1862  made  a liberal  grant  of  land 
scrip  to  each  state  of  the  union  for  the  endowment, 


8 


support,  and  maintenance  of  at  least  one  college  in 
the  several  states  accepting  the  benefits  of  the  grant, 
whose  leading  object  should  be  to  teach  such  branch- 
es of  learning  as  related  to  agriculture  and  the  me- 
chanic arts,  without  excluding  other  scientific  and 
classical  studies  and  including  military  tactics,  in 
order  to  promote  the  liberal  and  practical  education 
of  the  industrial  classes  in  the  several  pursuits  and 
professions  of  life. 

This  act  of  congress  was  the  origin  of  our  uni- 
versity. The  legislature  of  Illinois,  by  an  act  pro- 
viding for  the  organization  and  maintenance  of  the 
Illinois  Industrial  University,  re-enacted  the  act  of 
congress  in  identical  words. 

The  state  of  Illinois  might  have  organized  and 
provided  for  the  maintenance  of  a university  of  the 
established  or  general  sort,  having  colleges  of  law, 
medicine,  etc.,  etc.,  including  a college  of  agricul- 
ture and  mechanic  arts,  but  she  did  not  and  has  not. 
The  perfectly  obvious  intent  of  the  legislature  was 
to  establish  a peculiar  university,  contradistin- 
guished from  that  other  kind,  in  that  its  leading 
studies  should  relate  to  agriculture  and  mechanic 
arts,  other  classical  and  scientific  studies  being  per- 
missible when  and  to  the  extent  that  they  might 
subserve  the  single  great  purpose,  namely:  the 
thorough  and  liberal  and  complete  education  of 
the  farmer  and  the  artisan;  this  end  and  purpose 
being  accomplished,  the  whole  purpose  of  the  uni- 
versity is  accomplished.  It  was  deemed  by  the 


9 


founders  that  there  were  enough  of  the  universities 
of  the  other  kind  and  that  more  were  not  needed. 
If  no  need  in  ’67  of  establishing-  a university  of  the 
g-eneral  sort,  what  need  now  can  there  be  when  with- 
in the  borders  of  our  state  there  is  building-  by  pri- 
vate beneficence,  without  charge  to  any  tax-payer, 
what  will  with  scarcely  a doubt  soon  become  the 
most  completely  equipped,  the  most  comprehensive 
in  its  round  of  learning  and  the  most  richly  endowed 
university  of  the  general  sort  in  the  world. 

About  three  years  ago  when  this  university  had 
been  here  more  than  thirty  years,  when  in  all  there 
had  been  expended  upon  it  $4,000,000  or  $5,000,000, 
the  Illinois  Farmers’  Institute  appointed  a commit- 
tee to  visit  the  university  and  see  how  it  was  faring 
with  agriculture  here. 

The  committee  made  its  visit  and  investigation 
and  reported  that  they  found  an  agricultural  plant 
worth  about  $7,000 — $7,000!  Shades  of  the  found- 
ers! Excuse  us  farmers  for  what  we  could  not  help 
and  forgive  us  for  what  we  could  help  but  did  not. 

But  my  friends  I doubt  very  much  if  Turner  and 
Bateman  and  Gregory  and  their  co-laborers  would 
have  any  harsh  words  for  us  if  they  could  communi- 
icate  with  us.  They  saw  how  the  educational  wind 
was  blowing  from  the  farm  to  the  town,  from  agri- 
cultural to  professional  life,  before  they  went.  It 
was  only  a breeze  in  their  day,  but  may  be  from 
their  spirit  homes  they  have  seen  that  breeze  in- 
crease to  a blizzard  sweeping  things  toward  the 


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Agricultural  building,  university  of  Illinois. 


town  and  toward  the  occupations  of  the  town,  as 
that  other  kind  of  blizzard  sweeps  the  snows  of  the 
plain  upon  the  hamlet  in  its  path. 

I am  ready  to  believe  that  those  good  men,  if 
they  thought  we  could  hear  them,  instead  of  chid- 
ing us  would  say,  boys,  you  “done  noble”  even  to 
hold  down  your  little  cow  barn  in  such  a gust  as  that. 

I have  not  much  to  say  about  the  $7,000  plant. 
When  the  farmers  heard  about  it,  a movement  to 
right  things,  general,  intelligent,  determined, 
united,  irresistible,  was  begun.  This  great  agricul- 
tural building  is  one  of  the  fruits  of  that  movement. 
The  generous  appropriation  by  the  last  legislature 
for  better  equipment  of  the  plant  and  for  other  pur- 
poses of  the  college,  is  another  fruit  of  that  move- 
ment. There  will  be  other  and  perennial  crops  of 
good  fruit  which  that  movement  will  bear. 

Farmers  are  conservative;  they  are  not  easily 
moved  individually  and  are  harder  to  move  en  masse,, 
but  when  they  move  other  things  will  be  moved 
that  need  moving.  If  the  university  ship  has  been 
turned  from  its  right  course,  little  or  much,  or  if  it 
has  been  turned  right  about  and  headed  the  wrong 
way,  the  farmers  will  surely  swing  her  around  again 
and  send  her  on  her  appointed  way.  They  know  her 
mission;  it  was  clearly  mapped  out  from  the  begin- 
ning, and  knowing  it  they  will  see  to  it  that  she 
have  a chance  to  accomplish  that  mission. 

Lest  some  think  otherwise  let  me  say  I have  not 
spoken  a word  in  any  spirit  of  complaining — not  a 


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word  intended  as  an  arraignment  of  anybody  for 
anything  that  may  have  been  done  or  left  undone 
in  or  concerning  this  university. 

There  has  been  lack  of  information  and  conse- 
quent misunderstanding  and  disagreement  among 
the  people  as  to  the  true  and  lawful  character,  scope 
and  purpose  of  our  university,  I have  deemed  it  my 
right,  perhaps  my  duty  as  a citizen  and  a farmer,  to 
set  forth  here  those  purposes. 

And  let  no  one  infer  from  any  utterance  of  mine 
that  I take  an  unfavorable  or  gloomy  view  of  mat- 
ters and  events  in  general.  I believe  that  the  pre- 
ponderance of  human  intention  and  human  effort  is 
toward  the  good.  I believe  that  the  prevailing 
course  and  tendency  of  human  institutions  is  to- 
ward the  better.  They  may  travel  sometimes  ob- 
liquely — zigzag  — wrong  end  foremost  — upside 
down — or  at  times  seem  to  go  backwards,  but  alto- 
gether they  get  onward  and  upward. 

Good  things — better  things — the  best  things, 
come  not  at  once,  but  by  evolution,  step  by  step, 
from  imperfection  to  excellence. 

Agriculture  is  the  peculiar  science;  in  its  be- 
ginnings simple  indeed — simplest  of  all;  in  its  high- 
er development  we  shall  see  it  growing  complex, 
comprehensive,  drawing  to  its  aid,  assimilating  and 
rendering  subservient  all  sciences  and  becoming  in 
its  fullest  development  the  master  science. 

Since  the  children  of  men  however  simple  and 
unlearned  must  live  and  maintain  themselves  on  the 

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earth,  and  since  they  could  live  only  upon  the  prod- 
ucts of  the  tilled  field,  it  was  necessary  that  they  be 
able  to  provide  the  means  of  sustaining-  life  by  the 
simplest  method  of  field  culture. 

That  kind  providence  which  cares  for  all  living 
thing's  so  ordered  his  laws  that  the  field  by  the 
rudest  implements  and  by  untaug-ht  methods  could 
be  made  to  yield  the  necessities  of  life. 

But  since  we  live  by  agriculture  we  have  been 
wont  to  look  upon  it  simply  as  a means  of  living-. 
He  who  finds  in  his  vocation  only  the  means  of  liv- 
ing- becomes  a joyless  drudge  and  his  vocation  stag- 
nant drudgery. 

May  we  not  see  in  this  the  reason  why  myriads 
have  tired  of  farming  and  have  turned  away  from 
the  farm  to  other  pursuits  and  professions.  And  in 
this  turning  away  of  so  many  from  the  farm  to  other 
pursuits  and  professions  may  we  not  find  and  see  the 
cause  of  that  marvelous  development  of  other  arts 
and  sciences  which  so  distinguishes  our  time?  I do 
not  doubt  it.  The  excessive  interest  in  these,  the 
excessive  number  engaged  in  them  and  the  excess  of 
energy  expended  upon  them,  could  have  no  other  re- 
sult but  to  push  their  development  to  an  amazing 
degree  of  perfection. 

But  now  on  every  hand  we  note  the  signs  of 
another  turning,  a returning  to  agricultural  pur- 
suits. Other  sciences  and  other  arts  are  ripe  now 
to  serve  their  highest  purpose  in  the  development 
of  the  master  science,  agriculture.  The  professions 


13 


are  full — crowded  as  we  have  seen.  They  no  longer 
pay,  to  put  it  short,  but  that  is  not  all  nor  most  im- 
portant; men  and  women  conscious  of  power  to  aid 
in  the  world’s  needed  work  and  inspired  by  sublime 
desire  and  ambition  to  add  by  their  labors  some- 
thing to  the  world’s  comfort,  happiness,  and  better- 
ment, disdain  to  waste  their  trained  powers  where 
not  needed.  If  place,  success  and  competence  are  to 
be  gained  for  themselves  in  professional  life,  it  must 
too  often  come  by  displacing  and  defeating  others. 

With  the  condition  of  the  unskilled  laborer  and 
the  artisan  in  the  city  we  are  familiar.  Living  em- 
ployment is  uncertain;  there  are  too  many.  The 
mechanic  for  self-preservation  is  compelled  to  limit 
the  number  of  apprentices  in  his  own  craft,  even  to 
the  exclusion  of  his  own  son.  Professional  men  are 
hesitating  to  bring  up  their  sons  in  their  own  call- 
ing. How  is  it  with  trade  and  commerce?  There 
is  war  between  individuals  and  corporations  for 
trade,  of  which  there  is  not  enough  to  go  round,  and 
nations  that  once  fought  for  liberty  and  honor  are 
now  ready  to  fight  for  trade. 

The  way  out  of  it  all  is  to  the  farm.  To  the 
farm  is  the  place  to  go  now,  and  to  farm  is  the  thing 
to  do.  People  see  it;  not  only  plain  men  now,  but 
schooled,  educated,  learned  men  see  it,  and  the  more 
they  know  the  better  they  see  it.  Necessity  may  be 
the  ointment  that  is  opening  their  eyes,  but  they 
see  it  all  the  same.  To  my  young  friends  who 
question  me  as  to  the  most  promising  field  for 

c 

V U |||^j 

J ' 


14 


effort  now,  I answer  without  hesitation,  the  corn 
field. 

We  are  about  to  return — we  are  returning-  to 
agriculture.  We  are  taking-  another  step  in  the 
evolution  of  better  things  for  mankind. 

To  the  half  employed,  to  the  disappointed,  dis- 
contented, striving,  struggling  millions  in  other 
over-crowded  pursuits,  agriculture  says  come  unto 
me  and  I will  give  you  employment;  I will  give  you 
food  and  clothing;  I will  give  you  homes;  I will 
give  you  contentment  and  honor;  I will  give  you 
peace. 

But  we  are  returning  to  a new  agriculture,  an 
agriculture  lighted  and  glorified  by  science.  To  the 
new  agriculture  the  agricultural  college  and  experi- 
ment station  will  be  the  main  gateway. 

The  agricultural  college  and  experiment  sta- 
tion is  one  of  the  wisest  conceptions  of  this  or  of 
any  age. 

It  should  not  be  regarded  as  merely  a help  to 
agriculture  or  an  aid,  however  valuable;  such  an  es- 
timate falls  short  of  the  truth.  It  is  a necessary, 
an  indispensable  agent  in  the  development  of  a bet- 
ter and  more  profitable  and  more  engaging  agricul- 
ture. The  individual  farmer  cannot  experiment  prof- 
itably. Agricultural  experiments  for  the  most  part 
require  some  years  for  their  completion.  There 
must  be  parallel  experiments  under  varying  condi- 
tions. Exact  records  must  be  preserved.  Expensive 
apparatus  is  often  required.  I need  not  recount  the 


15 


obstacles  to  successful  experimentation  by  individu- 
al farmers;  they  are  numerous  and  practically  insur- 
mountable. 

If  for  no  other  reason,  a college  or  association 
of  some  kind  is  necessary,  because  experiments  if 
left  dependent  upon  the  life  and  health  and  inclina- 
tion of  private  persons  would  almost  certainly  fail. 

Although  comparatively  new  institutions,  col- 
leges of  agriculture  have  abundantly  proved  their 
value. 

To  their  credit  stand  already  discoveries  of  in- 
calculable value  to  mankind — discoveries  which  in 
their  nature  would  not  and  could  not  have  been 
made  outside  the  Agricultural  College.  Where  could 
the  thought  have  been  born,  except  in  the  environ- 
ment of  the  Agricultural  College,  that  our  greatest 
product — corn — might  be  changed  in  the  propor- 
tions of  its  chemical  constituents?  Even  if  the  idea 
had  occurred  to  some  farmer  of  contemplative  mind, 
what  could  he  do  with  it?  How  could  the  change 
be  effected?  Could  such  changes  be  made  as  would 
widen  the  uses  and  increase  the  value  of  corn? 

Without  the  College  and  Experiment  Station, 
these  questions  would  have  to  go  unsolved.  In  this, 
our  Agricultural  College,  a man  has  thought,  be- 
lieved, proved  that  the  chemical  constituents  of  corn 
may  be  so  changed  in  their  proportions  as  to  make 
of  it  almost  a balanced  or  complete  food  for  our  do_ 
mestic  animals.  There  is  no  calculating  the  value 
of  this  discovery.  All  intelligent  feeders  have  known 


16 


that  our  great  food  crop  was  deficient  in  the  protein 
necessary  for  normal  growth  and  development  of  our 
domestic  animals.  This  protein  we  must  supply  at 
any  cost.  Which  of  us  and  when,  would  have 
thought  and  learned  how  to  breed  an  increased  pro- 
portion of  protein  into  our  corn.  Not  only  this,  he 
has  proved  that  for  various  other  special  uses  corn 
may  be  so  bred  as  to  largely  increase  its  value  and 
selling  price  for  those  uses. 

I believe  that  this  discovery  alone — that  the 
proportions  of  the  chemical  constituents  of  corn  can 
be  changed,  and  the  more  valuable  parts  materially 
increased,  will  be  worth  in  dollars  and  cents  to 
the  farmers  of  Illinois  a sum  beside  which  all  that 
has  been  or  will  be  appropriated  to  our  Agricultural 
College  will  appear  insignificant.  My  estimate  of 
the  value  of  Professor  Hopkins’  discovery  is  not  of 
course  capable  of  mathematical  proof,  but  I have 
intended  to  speak  of  his  discovery  in  reasonable  and 
probable  terms,  and  I believe  that  I have. 

Without  doubt  a reasonable  amount  of  public 
money  judiciously  expended  on  our  Agricultural 
College  will  return  an  hundred  fold  to  the  common 
good. 

We  are  met  here  to  dedicate  this  great  building, 
the  largest  agricultural  college  building,  I believe, 
in  the  world.  It  is  consistent — we  are  the  greatest 
agricultural  community,  and  this  building  stands  in 
the  center  of  the  largest  tract  of  the  most  product- 
ive land  comprised  in  any  single  state.  It  will  be 


17 


well  equipped.  We  have  a corps  of  instructors, 
many  of  them  already  renowned  for  eminent  service 
to  agriculture;  all  are  learned  and  skilled  in  their 
art,  and  devoted  to  it. 

To  the  great  art — the  greatest — we  dedicate 
our  splendid  building. 


18 


^(5 


I 


